Yoshi (species)

Artwork of all the ten different colored Yoshis in Yoshi's Island DS

All the colors of Yoshis, except for Brown Yoshi.

A Yoshi is a species of dinosaur-like creatures. Their main home is Yoshi's Island in Dinosaur Land, although they've been seen in places like Yoshi Village and on the Excess Express.

Biology

A Yoshi's dominating feature is its nose, taking up most of its head. They are very sensitive when smelling out fruit or secrets that could be buried underground. They probably locate family and friends by smell, along with skin color. Even though they have teeth, these are rarely seen or used. The Fighting Polygons version of a Yoshi shows three pointy teeth, even though in the game Yoshi didn't show teeth. They have long adhesive tongues that can cling to most enemies, allowing a Yoshi to swallow it whole. They can either swallow whatever they eat, or encase it in an Egg. The eggs can be used as projectile weapons to defeat enemies and bosses.

Skin Pigment

Their skin color can be anything, even black and white. They can change skin color in Super Mario Sunshine by eating different fruit, and yet their colors are determined by hatching time in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In Super Mario World they had abilities depending on their color and Koopa Shells. If a Blue Yoshi eats Koopa Shell, it could grow wings. If a Red Yoshi eats a Koopa Shell, it could spit Fireballs. Their shoes color is in conjunction with their skin, a green Yoshi has red shoes, a red Yoshi has blue shoes, etc.

Speech

File:YoshiTransaltion.jpg

A translation of the Yoshi language, as seen in the alternate-canon Super Mario Adventures comic.

Most Yoshis can speak English, as proved by Yoshi in Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64, and various Yoshis in games like Yoshi's Story, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, etc. They probably replace nouns and verbs with the word "Yoshi", much like the Smurfs always used the word "Smurf" in their language. In Super Mario World, hopping onto a Yoshi's saddle made an odd sound created by a record scratching and then playing the sound backwards. In Yoshi's Story, the Yoshis are voiced by Nintendo musician Kazumi Totaka, who mutters his name and unintelligible words (such as "gong" and "hup"). Even though the game was by no means a favorite, because of it everybody assumes Yoshis can only say "Yoshi".

Language

The Yoshi language is still very much unknown to gamers but in Super Mario RPG:Legend Of the seven stars Yoshi had to translate the other Yoshis language. Oddly In Mario and Luigi:Superstar sagathough they still had the translation parenthasis around the dialouge showing that Mario may have learned the language.

Gender

A popular debate indeed. A possible explanation is that there's male and female, and both can lay eggs, but only female eggs can produce babies. It's also possible that Pink Yoshis can be male and female, since identifying gender by pink and light blue was a Human idea.

Diet

They eat mostly Fruit, and in the case in Yoshi's Story, they become happy when eating fruit their own skin color. Melons are their favorite, and only the Black and White Yoshis could digest Peppers (which hurt any other Yoshi) All Yoshis can eat enemies of various kinds, from large Koopas to plants.

Other notes

Yoshis are the originator of the "Ground Pound", a move in which a creature jumps into the air, flips and then slams into the ground. Yoshis first performed the move in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. The move has been performed by many characters in later games, such as Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and various entries in the Mario Party franchise.

The plural for Yoshi has often come up in debates. Some argue that "Yoshis" is the proper term, while others argue that "Yoshies" is correct. Japanese plurals have no indicative marks, meaning that "Yoshi" is another (unlikely) possibility. Nintendo of America has used both "Yoshies" and "Yoshis" in the Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance versions of Yoshi's Island, respectively. It could be that both versions are canon.

In the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance 4 adaptations of Super Mario Bros. 3, the king in the castle of World seven is transformed into a Green Yoshi by Ludwig Von Koopa (whereas in the NES version of the game, predating Yoshi's, the king was transformed into a Piranha Plant).

Strangely, a Green Yoshi can sometimes be seen on the Excess Express in Paper Mario 2, making it the only cameo of a Yoshi in the game.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it confirmed that Yoshies tend to travel in very large herds (consisting of thousands) and cause stampedes similar to the real world animal Wildebeests.

Trivia

Yoshies can use Full Eggs to restore all their eggs.